AuthorTopic: TLC BASIC FIGURES - General Discussion (Read 1740 times)

I would have to agree with Pete here. Look at the GI Joe figures, aren't they the same design as the SW figs. Makes it easier for the plant to package things and with thinner cardboard and plastic it cuts cost. I don't care too much since I would like the figures to be reduced in cost and higher packaging costs equate to higher figure costs. I do collect MOC figs as well as openers but I haven't gotten reissues lately and if the card has a minor flaw I don't really care. I'm not as anal as I used to be but I don't see the cardback influencing a kid to buy a figure. Keep the Clone Wars fresh and new but I think the vintage style card back for Legacy figs is the best way to go since I think collectors are more into these than kids. Lets face it, what normal kid is going to say "Hey, look at the big fat half naked figure with six breasts.....I need to have that one."

I hear what you're saying Nick - but Lucasfilm probably didn't tell Hasbro to put 10 corners on their current card design.

They probably also didn't tell Hasbro to reduce the size of their card-backs either.

Sure Hasbro probably had to get approvals, but that's probably it.

I also think that Hasbro knows the toy business better than Lucasfilm, so if Hasbro stood up and made a case against what Lucasfilm was asking for each year, then things could change.

Other vendors of Star Wars product seem to be immune from packaging style changes - all that little knick-knack stuff you see in various locations around a TRU is still in the Blue/White packaging. Where is Lucasfilm oversight of them?

The fact is that Hasbro welcomes the packaging changes because it allows them to easily take an item they already should have recouped their investment on, put it into new packaging to make it look "new", number it as part of the latest figure line and either trick kids or strong-arm completists into making a repeat purchase - making any purchasing of that figure 100% profit.

I think you need to direct your feelings about the packaging changes from Hasbro to Lucas Licensing. Because it's Lucas Licensing that directs all of the licensees on what the package style will be and when it's supposed to change. Overall, I think that Hasbro has been pretty receptive to what collectors want. The Q&A process is proof of that. But it's unfortunate that we don't have that kind of dialogue with Lucas Licensing.

Over on the other forum I haunt, I've made no secret about how I feel about these annual packaging style changes.

I feel that it comes down to this: if people want Star Wars toys, they are going to buy Star Wars toys. If the general public looses interest in Star Wars toys, sales will drop off. If the general public thinks that $8 is too much to pay for a 3.75" figure, sales will drop off. If mint-in-package collectors or completists get fed up with packaging changes, they will collect up until the end of a packaging style and then stop, which will result in yet again, a drop-off in sales.

What packaging changes will NEVER do is convince a kid or a parent who has a wish-list from a kid for the holidays or their b-day, that instead of buying some piece of crap Bakugong (sp?) they should instead buy a Star Wars figure, 'cause the packaging is "fresh" and "cool".

Completist collectors, are a dying breed and Hasbro has made them that way. If the line still looked like it did from the POTF2 or 2002-2004 Saga Collection years, there would still be lots more collectors interested in continuing to collect like-packaged products.

Packaging style changes, if not smart, can drive a collector from being a MOC & opener collector to just an opener collector simply because the packaging design doesn't lend itself to the product making it to the shelves in a MOC state.

If the packaging change turns out to be what has been rumored - a return to the vintage Kenner look, almost like what Hasbro did with the 25th Anniversary GI Joe line, I certainly welcome that - they may even see a boost in sales especially if the design only has FOUR corners on the card instead of TEN and the bubble is a small compact durable shell that protects the figure inside and doesn't crease easily - since MOC collectors may return to the line.

I do think that from this point on, figures based on the six movies should remain in this new packaging style for the remainder of the time that Hasbro produces them. If that means them re-releasing every figure on this new cart style, so be it, but in the long-run having the packaging style remain consistent will do more to help the realistic line then changing the packaging ever year will.

So it looks like the EU wave isn't going to hit before Christmas. It seems like a pretty safe assertion at this point. And considering the way the retailers handle stock after Christmas I don't think we're going to see it for a month.

So that means the lull in new TLC basic figure waves should be from February to July. I think I can deal with 5 minutes of down time in the one line. Especially if Hasbro is going to take some of that time to get the last of the comic 2-packs out during that time.